Directories are an invaluable resource for local, family and social historians as well as for researchers in other fields of Australian history. While they do not give you birth, death and marriage details - core records for genealogists and family historians - they can certainly provide you with information on the region where your ancestors lived, as well as information on their occupation and much more.

This large Wise’s directory is comprehensive in its coverage. It contains not just a post office directory, with information on residents together with their address (both street-by-street and alphabetical), but also the following directories:

North Brisbane and South Brisbane

Country towns (including many which are now suburbs of Brisbane): in general, it gives the location, other significant details about the town and a listing of residents

Trades (from Academies to Woven Wire Fencing Manufacturers)

Legal – includes barristers, solicitors, notaries public and conveyancers

Banking and Finance – including a list of Bank Towns, Building Societies and Land, Mortgage & Finance Companies

Pastoral and Agricultural: one listing according to the type of enterprise (for example, apiarists, arrowroot manufacturers, tobacco growers and vignerons) and another an alphabetical listing of stations, runs and grazing farms with over 1,500 sheep or 300 cattle

Local Government

Official – lists the federal representatives for each state, key Commonwealth Departmental officials and similar state representatives and officials for Queensland